Lene bjerre lassen

I USED TO ONLY BE ABLE TO CARRY 10 POUNDS - NOW I TRAIN WITH 50 POUND KETTLEBELLS

Lene has struggled with chronic pain for 15 years and has been very limited in her everyday life.

Today, she has trained herself to be able to do more of the things that would have been impossible before.

As a nurse, I have had two work-related injuries that resulted in severe, persistent pain

I suffered from severe lower back pain and pelvic pain.
In addition, I had many different injuries such as bunions, split abdominal muscles after pregnancy and a sunk forefoot, bad shoulder after badminton, a tendon had been injured in a smash.

Afterwards, I always had pain if I had to throw something or shake something. The two back injuries, the first of which was in 2006, have left me in chronic pain for 17 years. And if that wasn't enough, I also had a stress disorder, which meant I had to quit my job three and a half years ago.

I had SO many physical challenges that I couldn't walk more than two kilometres and I was exhausted just taking a shower.

Of course, I was seeing a physiotherapist regularly, but doing her exercises actually made me hurt more!

I knew that movement was what I needed to get back on my feet, but I was looking for movement that would build me up, and I didn't feel that the physiotherapist was doing enough.

Three years ago, I read about a woman who had trained using the Anna Bogdanova method, and she had had many physical challenges but had gotten to a better place by strength training. This motivated me to take a closer look at Anna's universe and I bought the danish book "Smertefri" (Painless)

I LEARNT TO ENJOY TRAINING

I thought long and hard before I bought my first training programme because it was a lot of money for me, but I'm proud that I took the plunge - and I've never regretted it!

I'm basically a very sporty girl and used to using my body, but like everyone else I grew up with "the harder the better".

So, with Anna's programmes, I had to learn patience as a new thing, but once I learned it, I got some new benefits. I actually started to enjoy working out!

In the beginning, I used Anna and the team a lot because I had to figure out what to start addressing. Should I start with stress, split abs or a painful shoulder?

I was advised to start with the special programmes for specific parts of the body so that I could address the different challenges. Today, I hardly use a forum anymore because I'm mostly self-driving.

I CAN DO SO MUCH PHYSICALLY TODAY THAT I COULDN'T BEFORE

I've spent a lot of time rebuilding my entire system and haven't pushed myself at any point, because my body would tell me to stop

After my second work injury, I couldn't lift more than 5kg, then my body became uncomfortable and started to hurt.

I make my body comfortable by doing a lot of gentle sensory flows so that my body is ready to lift before I pick up the heavy kettlebells. I never break a sweat and I always enjoy the workout.

When I bought my first 18 pounds ball, I couldn't pick up the ball myself. Today I can lift 50 pounds! I train five times a week and reduce my pain daily with strength training. Lest I forget, I wrote a list of all the things I couldn't do before I started strength training.

  • I couldn't sit in a car for a long time without my back hurting.
  • I couldn't put sheets on the bed without my back hurting.
  • I couldn't lift 18 pound.
  • I couldn't vacuum.
  • I couldn't carry heavy groceries home from the supermarket.

    • But today, I can do all those things again. All in all, I have significantly pushed the limits of what I can manage in my everyday life.

    Lene Bjerre Lassen, married, two children aged 18 and 20.